LexRides

[Myke Dronez]

So I rode the Blue Eyed Devil to work yesterday, propped it against the wall, opened the garage doors and started with some random tasks. Our warehouse is filthy from a recent fire so I had it right outside the open garage doors where we frequently come in and out. While I'm working 20 ft away from the open doors I get a call from my boss who tells me he's just caught a Mexican (sorry) stealing my bike and that he's chasing him down Jefferson St. I run outside to see the bike lying out on the sidewalk and scoop it up while Remy and the culprit are engaged in a footrace down 2nd st. He gives me a call and tells me to have my friend Waseem drive down to short and Broadway to head him off. Was tears off in the truck and waits at the intersection for these two to come running down the street. When the chase comes around the corner Speedy Gonzales realizes he's surrounded, he balks and Remy tackles his ass from behind. Old buddy proceeds to get the shit kicked out of him by Remy and Waseem until employees of the Horse and Barrel decide to intervene. Warning that "you keep beating him like this, everyone will go to jail". After waiting for someone to return to the warehouse I rode the bike down to Broadway to talk to the police and shake my head at this battered sobbing fool. He didn't look too happy when the cop cuffed him up for felony theft charges. Guess he should stick to Roadmasters... All that said, I only still have the bike out of sheer luck, so seriously folks, and I knew this- keep them puppies locked up and or out of sight. My bike was well within our parking lot behind a jumble of vehicles, shipping containers, and a forklift, but was still visible from Jefferson St., and with all that bling... it took about 45 min for someone to notice. Good thing he never tried to ride the thing, he might have gotten nasty surprise...
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"If you don't want stupid answers don't ask questions."

[sailorjames]

This made me smile, justice has been served.

[brokebike]

fuck yeah! I have no sympathy for bike thieves... I don't care what your situation in life is...

Was a beat-down deserved? Yeah... probably so. You have the balls to try to lift a bike, you also have the balls to take some punches and kicks... that's the way I see it.
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[Myke Dronez]

The beatdown was especially deserved since that guy will probably slip through the judicial system like a greased pig. I'm not some anti-immigration advocate or anything but I know how easy it is for undocumented criminals to slip out of shit like that with fake names etc.
Its depressing to think about the all the bikes that get lifted from people who truly care about and ride them, only to get rattlecanned and dumped off for chump change- I think everyone within earshot about shit their pants when I told the police what the bike is worth.
The arresting officer was actually a bike cop with a BCC sticker on his notepad- He gave me good natured hard time about the lack of brakes but noticed the eggbeaters saying "He would have really been in trouble if he actually tried to ride that thing huh?". So lucky for the bike he got off easy with a good ol' streetside stompin'.
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"If you don't want stupid answers don't ask questions."

[haumanjoy]

Who can hook up a teaser bike to 220V...and a video camera to get the jolting reactions. That would be funny.

Great job speedy Remy! That's some great teamwork!

[willard]

One of my friends had a bike stolen out of the back of his pickup truck that was parked across the street from my apartment on Limestone. It was another one of those "Oh, I'll just be gone for a second" situations. We saw the guy steal it from my bedroom window upstairs, so we grabbed a couple of my road bikes and chased the guy down. Once he realized that we were a hell of a lot faster than him he just dumped the stolen bike and ran off on foot. My friend decided to just let him go because the bike was a hunk of junk anyway and it wouldn't have been that much of a loss.

Ever since that event, I've tried to figure out how we could organize an alleycat race where we could chase down a bike thief. Just imagine: We could have all of the racers hidden in a backyard out of sight, plant an easily stolen bike on the street, and race to see who can catch up to the thief and slap a sticker on them or something.

From a practical standpoint, I think it would be impossible to keep the event from getting out of hand. We all have the potential to get over zelous and it would probably end up going down the same path as critical mass.

Although, it would be fun if we could videotape the moment that the thief turns around to see fifty cyclists pouring out a driveway after him. If we managed to capture look on the thief's face it would probably get us a few million views on youtube.

[brokebike]

...you guys could come out to Coolavin for polo, where we have a really high percentage rate of catching some asshole on a stolen bike.
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[jdbaum3]

Just a quick update, I was told today by a reputable source that the thief received 6 months in jail. Good work to those that caught him!